Contact: Sevda Eris, seris@kqed.org, 415.553.2835
A Television Special Exploring Controversial Science-Related Issues Facing Voters Premiering on Friday, October 24
San Francisco, CA - KQED’s local television news and science programs, KQED NEWSROOM and QUEST, join efforts to examine the science behind some of the key issues that will be decided on in the upcoming November 4 election: fracking, water conservation and the labeling of genetically engineered food. Science at the Ballot Box, a half-hour television special, will air twice on KQED Public Television 9, first on KQED NEWSROOM on Friday, October 24, at 8 pm, and again, on QUEST on Wednesday, October 29 at 7:30 pm.
“We thought it was important to bring California voters a program that looks at the underlying science in some of the complex and contentious energy, water and food-related measures in the upcoming election,” says Gabriela Quirós, QUEST television producer.
The half-hour special hosted by NEWSROOM’s Thuy Vu, looks at
•an initiative in San Benito County that asks that county’s voters to ban hydraulic fracturing, a controversial oil and gas extraction technique. Some environmental groups and farmers oppose the practice, which allows companies to extract oil trapped deep below the surface in California. Santa Barbara County also will vote on a fracking ban this November.
•Proposition 1, a water bond that Governor Jerry Brown and lawmakers are asking voters to approve that would authorize the state to borrow $7.5 billion to pay for new reservoirs, conservation, water recycling and other programs.
•the labeling of genetically engineered food, which is on the ballot in Oregon and Colorado. In California, a labeling initiative called Proposition 37 lost by a small margin in 2012. Now, labeling advocates are applying the lessons they learned in California to their campaign in Oregon.